Chapter Four was extremely eventful, with Paul and his comrades being bombarded by enemy troops. The chapter begins with the men riding closer to the front lines. It is a warm night and they are not worried. They even pass a house with geese that they think they will eat later on. As they move along, the setting changes, “the air becomes acrid with the smoke of the guns and the fog. The fumes of powder taste bitter on the tongue.” Their vehicle starts to shake and and their faces change for they are now in the midst of danger.
The rest of the chapter is a chaotic scrambling of Paul escaping death while others around him become wounded or killed in the attack. I think that Chapter Four will be a model for the entire book. When everything seems fine and dandy, the war will take over and give a wake-up call that everything still stinks. Just as Katczinsky simply felt that a bombardment was coming, I feel that this book will not end happily. Just as everything seems to get better, such as the soldiers begin to find safety or a way home, things will take a turn for the worse.
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